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Serbs
The Serbs (Serbian: Срби), or the Serbian people (Serbian: Српски народ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans region of Southeastern Europe. They predominantly inhabit the Republic of Serbia, but also constitute communities in former Yugoslavian nations, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia in Macedonia. They also form some significant minorities in western nations such as the United States and Canada. In the history of the southern Slavic people, the Serbrs played an important, especially in the formation of Yugoslavia which existed as a united monarchy of southern Slavic-speaking peoples, and later a communist republic free of Soviet rule and under very limited Soviet influence. History 'Early History and Ancestry' What is now Serbia, and the Balkans region have been part of various empires. The southern part of Serbia was colonized by the Greeks, Alexander the Great conquered northern Serbia. In 75 BC, the Romans colonized Serbia. The Serbs have origins from a number of places, ancient ancestrial places include Russia and Belarus. The Slavs from those area settled the Balkans in what is known as the Great Migration. This is a period in Eurasia's history where various Indo-European and Asian tribes began migrating and conquering territories. The Serbs formed several medieval states. In the 1300s, the Serbian Empire was formed. The empire was formed by Serbian monarchy and dynasties. In the 1500s, the Serbs would find themselves conquered by the Ottomans. Other Slavic groups such as the Bulgarians also struggled against the Ottomans. Foreign powers such as Russia helped defeat the Ottomans and help the Serbs and Bulgarians away from Ottoman rule. The Serbs also recieved some Russian influence. Some Serbian monarchs were called czars which is Russian for the Latin word ceasar me aning emperor. 'Ottoman Rule ' In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Serbian Despotate was subdued by the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. The Ottomans defeated the Serbs at the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, making vassals of the southern governors, soon thereafter, the Emperor died. As Uroš was childless and the nobility could not agree on the rightful heir, the Empire was ruled by semi-independent provincial lords, who often were in feuds with each other. The most powerful of these, Tsar Lazar, a Duke of present-day central Serbia (which had not yet come under Ottoman rule), stood against the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. The result was indecisive, but it resulted in the subsequent fall of Serbia. Stefan Lazarević, the son of Lazar, succeeded as ruler, but had by 1394 become an Ottoman vassal. In 1402 he renounced Ottoman rule and became an Hungarian ally, the years following are characterized by the Ottomans and Hungary battling over the territory of Serbia. In 1453, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, and in 1458 Athens was taken. In 1459, Serbia was annexed, Greece as well, a year later. 'Second Serbian Uprising Against Ottoman Rule 1815-1817' The Second Serbian Uprising (1815–1817) was a second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, which erupted shortly after the brutal annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire and the failed Hadži Prodan's revolt. The revolutionary council proclaimed an uprising in Takovo on April 23, 1815, with Milos Obrenović chosen as the leader (while Karađorđe was still in exile in Austria). The decision of the Serb leaders was based on two reasons. First, they feared a general massacre of knezes. Second, they learned that Karađorđe was planning to return from exile in Russia. The anti-Karađorđe faction, including Miloš Obrenović, was anxious to forestall Karađorđe and keep him out of power. Fighting resumed at Easter in 1815, and Milos became supreme leader of the new revolt. When the Ottomans discovered this they sentenced all of its leaders to death. The Serbs fought in battles at Ljubic, Čačak, Palez, Požarevac and Dublje and managed to reconquer the Pashaluk of Belgrade. Milos advocated a policy of restraint: captured Ottoman soldiers were not killed and civilians were released. His announced goal was not independence but an end to abusive misrule. Wider European events now helped the Serbian cause. Political and diplomatic means in negotiations between the Prince of Serbia and the Ottoman Porte, instead of further war clashes coincided with the political rules within the framework of Metternich's Europe. Prince Miloš Obrenović, an astute politician and able diplomat, in order to confirm his hard won loyalty to the Porte in 1817 ordered the assassination of Karađorđe Petrović. The final defeat of Napoleon in 1815 raised Turkish fears that Russia might again intervene in the Balkans. To avoid this the sultan agreed to make Serbia suzerain- semi independent state nominally responsible to the Porte. 'Liberation from Ottoman Rule by Russia, 1877-1878' During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the Russians supported a number of Balkans uprisings against Ottoman rule, including that of the Bulgarians and the Serbs. This was known as the Balkans theater of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The Serbian army, poorly-equipped and accompanied by Russian leaders, thwarted several Ottoman offensives into Serbia. The Russians sent monetary aid to the Serbian army, allowing them to take more control of their army, with less Russian officers. The Romanians also aided the Russians in this battle. The offensives were successful, and the Ottomans were crushed by the coalitions of Serbs and Russians. 'Kingdom of Serbia 1882-1918' The Kingdom of Serbia ( Kraljevina Srbija) was created when Prince Milan Obrenović, ruler of the Principality of Serbia, was crowned king in 1882. The Principality of Serbia was ruled by the Obrenović dynasty from 1817 onwards (at times replaced by the Karađorđević dynasty). The Principality, suzerain to the Porte, had expelled all Ottoman troops by 1867, de facto securing its independence. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 recognized the formal independence of the Principality of Serbia. In 1918, Serbia joined with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia) under the rule of the Karađorđević dynasty. 'World War I 1914-1918' History 'Kingdom of Yugoslavia' Shortly before World War I, the Serbs formed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The term Yugoslavia literally means "Land of the South Slavs". Yugoslavia was a kingdom that united various South Slavic groups, such as the Serbs themselves, the Croats and the Slovenes. The Serbs would find themselves invaded by the Austro-Hungarian soldiers. The Russians once more, retaliated and attacked the Austro-Hungarians which resulted into an entire avalanche of attacks and retaliations we come to know as World War I. In World War II, the Nazis and Axis invaded Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavs resisted and formed militia partisan groups with their most famous leader, Josip Broz Tito. The Soviets later in 1945, helped the Yugoslavs drive the Nazi forces out of Yugoslavia. During the Cold War Tito became Yugoslavia's president. This was a communist republic this time, known as the Second Yugoslavia. This Yugoslavia was under Soviet control, thus Yugoslavia recieved some Russian influence. In 1992, the Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats would all engage in a bloody tribulation known as the Yugoslav Wars or the War in Bosnia. This literally tore apart Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union also dissoluted right around the exact same time. When the Soviet Union dissoluted, a territory in Russia known as Chechnya wanted to break free. A similar practice was seen in Kosovo after Yugoslavia dissoluted as people from Kosovo wanted to break free from Serbia. Even through the fall of communism, the Russians still backed the Serbs in fighting to take control of Kosovo. Language, Architecture and Religion Serbs speak the Serbian language. The Serbian language is Serbia's national register of the Serbo-Croatian language. Serbian and Serbo-Croatian belong to the South Slavic subfamily of the Slavic languages. As of 2006, there are 9,000,000 native speakers of the Serbian language. The sister languages of Serbia are Bosnian, Croatian and Montenegrin. Those too, are seperate registers of the same language, Serbo-Croatian. Historically, the Serbian language was influenced by the Russian language. The Serbian language is written using the Cryllic alphabet. The Cryllic alphabet is an script that started out as a dialect script of Greek. St. Cryil and Methodius perfected the script into a seperate writing system. Cryillic then became the official scripts of Slavic empires, such as the Serbian Empire, Yugoslavia, Russian Empire and Bulgarian Empire. Like all writing systems, the Cryllic used in Serbia has differences with Russian Cryllic and Bulgarian Cryllic. Some of the characters from the Russian and Bulgarian Cryllic do not exist in Serbian Cryllic. Also, the the Latin character "J" is borrowed into Serbian Cryllic. The Latin "J" is not found in any of the other version of Cryllic. Most Serbs are overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox. But Serbs have their own national branch known as Serbian Orthodoxy. The Church Slavonic language is the liturgical language of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Church Slavonic is used in many other Slavic countries that follow the Orthodox faith, such as Bulgaria and Russia. Serbian architecture reflects Greek, Byzantine and Roman influence. Although most of typical Serbian churches are built Byzantine and and sometimes Greek style, barely Roman. Serbian style churches that are built anywhere are seen in this fashion. Some western influence can be found, especially in Belgrade's western part. They include Gothic features such as church bell towers. Cuisine Serbian cuisine is a Balkan type cuisine. It bears similarity and influence to Turkish and Mediterranean cuisines. Typical breakfasts are usually small, which include coffee and pastries as staple ingredients of breakfast. Burek ''is a pastry, of Turkish origin made of flaky dough and commonly filled with cheeses such as ''sirene. Popara is a type of meal made of leftovers from breads and pastries. Popara is also eaten in other Balkan and Turkic countries. Main courses include foods like goulash, roasted pork and noodles with poppy. Serbian food is also commonly grilled. Roštilj refers to Serbian style barbeque. Pljeskavica is a dish made of grilled ground meat, sometimes eaten as a hamburger. Pljeskavica is a national Serbian dish. Another national dish in Serbia is ćevapčići. Ćevapčići is the Balkan version of kebabs, but this type is also made with ground meat. Rakia is a famous Balkan alcoholic drink, equivalent to Russian vodka. Rakia is also a popular Serbian alcoholic beverage. Šljivovica is the national version of rakia in Serbia. Notable Serbs or People of Serbian Origin